Is this really a bad thing

[Full Quiver]

BEIJING: Astronauts aboard China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft prepared for the country's first-ever spacewalk on Friday by readying the space suits to be used the following day.

I was listening to a conservative on the radio and he was giving a spin to this that insinuated that this was a bad thing. Is America alone supposed to be the only nation that benefits from technology, space, and such?

[RamboPreacher]

in a nationalistic sort of way, maybe. but I would have liked to hear the spin to know what he was saying. otherwise, no, I don't' see an issue with a non-American space-walk. why not?

[deb]

This would be the bad part of it from our local newspaper:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-shu-0924,0,6219709.story

Part of the story:

NN (Newport News) physicist charged with selling information to China
Scientist is accused of helping China's space program take off.
An internationally recognized scientist based at the Jefferson Laboratory in Newport News has been arrested and charged with violating federal arms controls by illegally exporting launch data to help China's space program.

Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, is the president, secretary and treasurer of AMAC International, a research and development company based at Jefferson Lab's Applied Research Center.

He was arrested in Newport News by federal agents and appeared in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk Wednesday, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

The arrest comes at a time when China is aggressively pursuing its space program. China is expected to launch its most ambitious space mission to date as early as today, thu. The manned mission is to include the program's first space walk. The Los Angeles Times reported the Shenzhou 7 launch is expected to take place between Thursday and next Tuesday.

[Full Quiver]

Well if not for German scientists we may never have gotten to space either.

[DaJudge]

I think it's wonderful for them. Of course we and the Russians both did it 45 years ago.

[Gerald Creasy]

You know, If Space Exploration is ever going to advance more than the snails pace it is now at, we're going to have to have SOME nation on the earth put people in space without blowing a spacecraft to smithereens every few years.

[dolfan]

You know, If Space Exploration is ever going to advance more than the snails pace it is now at, we're going to have to have SOME nation on the earth put people in space without blowing a spacecraft to smithereens every few years.

Or even if we do blow one up on occasion. Planes have been flying for a century now and they still crash. More people have died in plane crashes this year than have perished in toto in all space flights. Planes .... they're a failure.

[Dr. Ron]

Space exploration is not a bad thing. Putting weapons in space is!

China couldn't be less interested in space for exploration technology. They have all that has been done available to them.

We know what they are up to!

[Gerald Creasy]

You know, If Space Exploration is ever going to advance more than the snails pace it is now at, we're going to have to have SOME nation on the earth put people in space without blowing a spacecraft to smithereens every few years.

Or even if we do blow one up on occasion. Planes have been flying for a century now and they still crash. More people have died in plane crashes this year than have perished in toto in all space flights. Planes .... they're a failure.

Your point might have SOME legitmacy if we could replace a Space vehicle as easily as a plane.

Or an astronaut as easily as a pilot.

Since the time and cost is exponetially higher, the comparison is apples and oranges.